Thursday, July 19, 2012

Dozens dead in ferry capsize off Zanzibar, Tanzania

AN OFFICIAL has said there is no hope for more than 80 people still missing a day after a ferry sank off Zanzibar, with 62 bodies already recovered.

The vessel, which was officially carrying 291 passengers and crew, including more than 30 children, went down in choppy waters in the Indian Ocean after leaving Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam around midday Wednesday.

But there was now little hope of saving more people, Zanzibar police spokesman Mohamed Mhina said, raising the prospect that some 145 may have died.

The Washington State Department of Transportation said it had sold both vessels to a Canadian company which operates routes between the African continent and Zanzibar.